“There is a time when it’s necessary to take the gloves off and that time is right now,” Palin told thousands of supporters at a rally in a sports arena in Carson, California.

“Our opponent though is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough that he is palling around with terrorists who would target their own country,” Palin said of Obama, also calling him an embarrassment.

The only imperfect embarrassment is you, Sarah. You’re nothing but a ignorant, lying cunt. I’m ashamed to have defended a country you’re even part of.

Paul was 83 when he died. He had an enormously successful career playing some of the most memorable characters in Hollywood history. Just as important though, he was a gracious and generous man and a man committed to a long lasting (very rare in Tinsletown) marriage.

Because of his success in the entertainment industy, Newman was also able to afford his dreams when it came to car racing and philanthropy. 83 years is a pretty long life, and it seems he had a rich and fulfilling one.

In contrast, the unpublicized 23 American young people who were killed in Iraq in the month of September did not have a long lasting or fulfilling life. They might have, had they lived, but they didn’t. Nor did the 23 killed in August or the 19 killed in July or the 29 killed in June.

We don’t know their names, or their family histories, or their talents, or their dreams or anything else about them. It didn’t get any press except in the towns that they used to call home. They were all young and we will never have a chance to know if they might have become famous, rich, philanthropic or exceptional. Because, just like Paul Newman, they are dead.

In a couple of days, it will be October. Thirty one days later, it will be November. During that month, if history is any measure, another 20 to 30 Americans will be killed in the Iraq war – the one that the American people don’t want but refuse to do anything about. Their deaths, like the 4000+ who came before them, are blood on your frightened, ignorant and idle hands.

I don’t mean to offend Christians, especially Christian warmongers, but Jesus H. Christ! Is this the best we can do?

KABUL (Reuters) – The United Nations said on Tuesday it had found convincing evidence that 90 Afghan civilians, most of them children, were killed in air strikes by U.S.-led coalition forces in western Afghanistan last week.

“Investigations by UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) found convincing evidence, based on the testimony of eyewitnesses, and others, that some 90 civilians were killed, including 60 children, 15 women and 15 men,” U.N. Special Envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide said in a statement.

With the very best high tech electronic equipment, with the very best military hardware, with the very best trained military personnel, with the very latest, state of the art intelligence gathering apparatus, the very best we can do is to completely fuck up and kill a bunch of innocent children. Am I the only one who thinks that this is insanity? This has to be stopped. It has to be stopped now. Not next year or in 2010. We are killing perfectly innocent people just like you and me in an ungodly and horrific quest for economic power and energy resources.

Basically what we are saying to these women and children is, “We’re sorry, but we may have to kill you in order to achieve our agenda. But you’re just poor people in a third world nation so we don’t really care that much. We hope you understand”.

We have gone too far. And anyone who doesn’t see it is either an imbecile, a moron or a die hard Bush baby and traitor. I am disgusted with the American people for not stopping this genocide.

This part of the nightmare just keeps getting worse. VCS reports that more troops from Oregon are dying of suicide than from the war itself.

In 2005, 19 Oregon soldiers were killed in combat. In that same year, 153 Oregon veterans of all ages committed suicide.

The group facing the highest risk of suicide is veterans between 18 and 24 years old. Portland VA officials told The Portland Tribune that Oregon vets made almost 900 calls to the National VA Suicide Hotline in the last year.

I just don’t understand why people cannot get it through their heads that men and women coming back from the war MUST have a sophisticated and professionally applied debriefing period to learn how to cope with what they have seen and done. Is it because we still have this John Wayne, movie vision of what war is? Is it because we back home just don’t want to have to face it ourselves or admit how badly we’ve all screwed up?

Why state governments are not stepping up to the plate on this issue is beyond me. And I’m not talking about offering counseling or mental health, I’m talking about installing a mandatory program that each and every veteran must attend, be assessed, and if necessary receive further treatment – free of charge.

Forcing these brave young men and women to go and fight this dirty war – many having to go repeatedly and some being forced to go even after their enlistment ends – is bad enough. To not give them every possible chance for a successful return to civilian life is indecent and immoral.

I’m not sure what, but it says a lot about kindness, selflessness and an instinctual drive to help others. Whole story here.

An eight-year-old dog has touched the hearts of Argentines by saving the life of an abandoned baby, placing the girl safely alongside her own new puppies.

The 14 year old mother is said to have panicked and abandoned the baby in a field, surrounded by wooden boxes and rubbish.

Then along came La China, the dog which somehow picked up the baby and carried her 50m to place him alongside her own puppies.

The dog’s owner heard the child crying and found her covered with a rag.

So the dog not only protected this helpless baby, it covered the baby up with a rag. I’m thinking about the hundreds of thousands of veterans who are homeless and are left to fend for themselves on the cold hard streets of US cities every night, but I’m not going to mention it here. It might sound trite.

Marty on the Homefront has several posts up that are no less than necessary reading at this time. The first is a secret tape made of an army recruiter threatening a potential recruit. The second is a post – the final post - of an American soldier who used to have a blog. It is one of the best things I have ever read. It’s long. Read it.